Lakers polish off Raptors

LOS ANGELES - When the going got tough, the most mentally tough team on the NBA block got it going.

So polished are these Lakers that they know when to step up when games need to be won.

A quick start was followed by two relatively underwhelming quarters, but L.A. saved its best for last Friday night, taking control and sending a resilient Raptors team to its third loss in a row, this time falling 108-103.

For L.A., it was its sixth successive win as it eyes a three-peat. In their previous five wins, the Lakers' margin of victory was 13 points, which tells you just how pesky Toronto proved to be on this night, outworking the Lakers but in a lost cause.

Toronto hadn't beaten the Lakers at Staples Center since December of 2001, a stretch that now extends to nine games.

Though they trailed by as many as 13 points in the game's early moments, the Raptors did take a three-point lead into intermission by being relentless on the glass.

Had Andrea Bargnani (14 points in 38 minutes) been more effective on offence, who knows what could have been.

Had the Raptors been more careful with the ball, they could have put even more of a scare into the defending champs.

Kobe Bryant, who was coming off his 17th career triple-double, was kept in check, finishing the night with 23 points.

The Raptors wrap up their Western trip with a tip in Portland Saturday night.

Fxor the second straight time on this four-game trip, the Raptors found themselves behind the eight ball following the first quarter.

In Utah on Wednesday night, it was simply a case of too much Deron Williams.

Against the Lakers, it wasn't so much what the hosts did right but rather what the visitors were doing wrong.

Toronto's inability to protect the basketball stuck out like a sore thumb, a carelessness that allowed the Lakers to jump out to a 33-20 advantage following the opening period.

The game actually began with the Raptors being aggressive in attacking the paint, building an early lead that would soon evaporate with each and every ensuing turnover.

All told, the Raptors committed eight turnovers.

When they weren't turning the ball over, the Raptors had no answer for Steve Blake, who came off the bench at made three-pointers as quickly as the ball touched his hands.

Blake's nine first-quarter points would pace the Lakers, who shot 64% from the field.

Prior to the game, Raptors head coach Jay Triano summed up that challenge that awaited his team.

"You have to be completely aware and you have to play every single possession against everyone,'' he said. "It's not like you can trust trap Kobe because there are so many other options for him to throw the ball out and for guys to make plays.

"You have to try to limit his touches and have our secondary defence in place. When they play the triangle offence, their spacing is great and they don't get out of position very much.

"They're a tough challenge for any team."

But the Raptors managed to respond to the challenge when they began to protect the ball better.

They also went with a 2-3 zone on defence that made the Lakers hesitant, an opening Toronto would capitalize in taking a 58-55 lead into the break.

What fuelled the Raptors was the backcourt play of Jose Calderon and Leandro Barbosa.

Barbosa has struggled from the field in the four previous games, but he caught fire, especially from beyond the three-point arc.

In 12 minutes, Barbosa netted 15 points, a total he had failed to attain in any of his previous games as a Raptor.

A Calderon jumper tied the game at 55-55 and it was Barbosa's three-ball that provided the three-point cushion at halftime.

Toronto ended the second quarter on an 18-7 run, finished the period by making 15 of its 26 points, played with more energy than the Lakers was fully deserving of its advantage.

After L.A.'s initial surge, the Raptors didn't appear to be intimidated, a highlight reel dunk by Sonny Weems, when he initiated his drive from the left wing, over Theo Ratliff punctuating the point.

But these are the Lakers, the NBA's reigning two-time defending champions who began to step up their game midway through the third quarter.

Despite getting pounded on the boards, L.A. began to defend better in the third period, made more shots and took an 82-78 lead into the final period.